Wireless stations may benefit from wireless communications in the unlicensed 60 GigaHertz (GHz) frequency band, as the relatively large spectrum of this band allows for a data transmission rate as large as 7 Gigabits per second (Gbps). Due to the significant attenuation of high frequency wireless signals (e.g., signals in the 60 GHz band) caused by walls and other objects, wireless communications in the 60 GHz frequency band are typically transmitted and received in a highly directional manner. Advantageously, lower-power transceiver hardware may be used for directional communication, whereas much more powerful and costly omnidirectional transceivers would be required for omnidirectional communication.
A process called “beamforming” is typically used to achieve directional wireless communications between a pair of wireless stations (a mobile smartphone and a wireless access point, for example). In beamforming, transmit and receive stations directionally steer their antenna beams toward each other. In this manner, as a result of the beamforming process, each station may identify an antenna sector to be used by the station for communicating data with the other station.